Ments



(No Model.)

A. MINNIGK. VBNTILATING DEVICE FOR RAILROAD OARS. No. 461,361. 1 Patented Oct. 13,1891,

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ALBERT MINNIOK, or oonron,AssIdNoRf rD REo'r ANDQMESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO HIMSELF, CALIFORNIA.

AND 'MYRA, BLANCHARD, OF SAN :BERNARDINO,

VENT'I LJATINGI DEwci-i FoR RA! LRoAo-cARs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Nd-461,361, dated October 13, 1891.

Application filed March 12, 18911 To all whom it mayyconcern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT MINNICK, of Colton,in the county of San Bernardino and State of California, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Ventilating Devices for Railroad-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide means for ventilating railway-cars, and espe- IO cially cars designed for the transportation of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and other perishable stu E.

It consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of aset of sliding doors moving I 5 over openings in the end of the car, as will be hereinafter fully described.

Figure 1 is an outside end view of the car with the doors open, and Fig. 2 is an inside end view of the same with the doors open.

In the drawings, A represents the end of the car-body, which near the top and bottom is provided with rectangular ventilating-openings,which upon the outside or inside, or both, are covered with woven-wire cloth, as at B B. 2 5 Extending across these two openings are two vertical parallel rods 0 O, which are bent at their ends, so as to set off a slight distance from the face of the car, and are firmly secured to the car by screws, bolts, or other suitable means. These rods are also preferably secured to the car at their middle points by.

' brace-eyes a, which prevent the rods from springing in or out.

D Dare sliding doors,which are constructed 5 and arranged to cover the openingsB B.

These doors are provided with cleats or crosspieces to prevent them from warping, and are provided with staples, eyes, or keepers b b, by which they are arranged to slide vertically 0 upon the rods 0 O, the doors being between the rods and the end of the car. A hasp d and staple d serve to lock the upper door over the upper opening, and a similar hasp e and staple e serve to lock the lower door over the lower opening. To hold both doors, they are brought together, as shown, upon opposite sides of the eyes a a, and are fastened together by a hasp f on the lower door, which hasp engages with the staple d on the upper door.

Serial No. 384,843. (No model.)

or more cords or chains 01*, which pass around pulleys d and'descend to and are secured about a horizontal shaft E. This shaft is journaled in bearings attached to the car, and is provided with a crank F for turning it and raising and lowering shutters from the outside of car, and has a ratchet-wheel G and pawl h for holding it to its adjustment. The lower one of the doorsis provided with cords or chains g which are also wound upon the shaft E. By turning this shaft E the doors are raised or lowered so as to open or close the openings, both being worked simultaneously. To enable the shaft to open the doors more rapidly, the cords may be wound upon sheaves or pulleys on theshaft, or if the lower door is wider vertically than the other, as is desirable, and it is necessary to raise it farther or faster than the other, its cords alone may be wound upon pulleys on the shaft,'as shown, so as to give a greater throw to that door for a given' movement of the shaft, the cords of the other door being in such case wound directly upon the shaft.

Instead of using the shaft E for raising and lowering the doors, the cords or chains may be run through one or more holes in the end of the car and around pulleys or sheaves, so as to be worked from the outside.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to provide ventilating-openings in the sides of cars, which openings are covered with woven wire and that similar openings have been provided with both hinged and sliding doors. Hinged doors cannot be worked within the cars, since the cargo of fruit prevents the radial swing, and where sliding doors are arranged to travel in grooved ways the latter become filled with cinders and also warp from the weather, so that it is not possible to open and close them. In my invention, with the vertical rods 0 and 0 applied to the vertical walls of the car and olfsetting from the same far enough to allow the doors to play between them and the car and having guide-eyes, loops, or staples for connecting the rods to said doors, the doors may be quickly and certainly adjusted at short notice to protect the fruit from cold waves or sudden storms while in transit. This arrangement of parts is free from all choking by cinders and gripping and binding from wet weather, while the Windlass or hoisting-shaft within the car enables the inner doors to be as quickly worked from the outside as the outside doors are, the said inner doors being necessary in connection with the outer doors to more eifectually protect delicate fruit from freezing in transit during a sudden cold wave or continued bad weather.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The combination, with the vertical wall of a car having an opening atthe top and bottom, of a pair of vertical rods 0 0, secured to the wall of the car at points above and below the openings and offsetting from the car-wall, two vertically-sliding doors arranged between the rods and the side wall of the car and guided on the rods by eyes. or staples, a horizontal Windlass E, arranged in bearings between the top and bottom openings, and cords or chains extending from the Windlass in opposite directions and connected to the doors for adjusting the same, substantially as shown and described. 1

2. The combination, with a car having ventilating-openings atboth top and bottom of different sizes and sliding doors to correspond, of a differential Windlass or windingshaft with winding-surfacesof different diameters, and chains or cords for giving a different throw to the two doors, vsubstantially as shown and described.

ALBERT MINNIGK.

Witnesses:

S. H. IZIATOHER, MORRISTHOMPSON. 

